When clients dictate the structure and engineers just sign. We’re not saving time, we’re risking everything.
By now, you’ve probably seen it in the wild:
A contractor waving a hand-sketched layout on graphing paper.
A homeowner insisting, “Basta 6 columns lang, engineer. ’Yung sa kapitbahay kasi, ganun din.”
Or a freelancer on Facebook offering structural plans for ₱3,000, posting “complete na, “with sign and seal.”
Here’s the kicker: 60% of small builds in the Philippines, especially outside Metro Manila, are based on client-driven designs.
And no one wants to say it aloud, so I will:
When non-engineers do the design, and engineers just validate, we’re not “cutting costs.
We’re cutting corners.
So the question is…
What happens when we treat structural design like a pizza order: customized to preference, delivered fast, signed by default?
